


In The Fields

by Tortellini



Category: Hunger Games Trilogy - Suzanne Collins
Genre: Brother-Sister Relationships, Canon Compliant, Canon-Typical Violence, Childhood, Childhood Memories, Childhood Trauma, Children, District 11 (Hunger Games), Drama, Extended Families, Gen, Poverty, Pre-Canon, Sad, Sad Ending, Sister-Sister Relationship, Unconventional Families, Whipping, Wordcount: 500-1.000
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-08-11
Updated: 2020-08-11
Packaged: 2021-03-05 20:34:40
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 725
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25791448
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Tortellini/pseuds/Tortellini
Summary: Little Rue and her younger siblings learn the meanings of their names from an old woman in District 11, but something upsetting interrupts them.Oneshot
Kudos: 8





	In The Fields

"Granny! Granny"

The old woman who sat in the rocking chair wasn't our 'real' grandmother--but as far as I knew, all of the children in our part of District 11 called her that. When she heard my youngest sister Teasel's call she turned towards us, her weather-beaten face splitting into a welcoming smile.

"Hello, children! Come, come sit." She gestured to the spot on the porch at her feet. 

Edelweiss, my brother, sighed a little bit. Our aunt, our last guardian my siblings and I had left, was still working in the fields. And he being the boy of course thought it was his responsibility to try to provide for us too. I took his small brown hand in my own though, and led him up the stairs of the porch.

I was the oldest. Twelve. He was only ten. 

"Granny," Teasel began again, bouncing on her toes. None of us ever wore shoes. "I was wondering...do you know what our names mean?"

My other two sisters, Larkspur and Oleandor, looked up at this. I sat side by side and cross-legged with them. Oleandor absentmindedly fiddled with my curly hair; it was a soothing feeling of my little sister's small fingers. Larkspur held onto a cornhusk doll our aunt had painstakingly made her (she saved the husks of the corn we harvested). Edelweiss sucked on a stray piece of wheat.

Granny smiled. "Oh yes, child. Come here."

Teasel stepped up to the old woman, beaming. 

"Teasel..." Granny mused, focusing on my sister's face then. "A thistle, found in the very fields we work in."

"A thistle?" she frowned then. "Those hurt!"

Granny's eyes crinkled into a smile. "Yes. But thistles are also used as the herbs they are, and are very important when used to heal people. Especially for us." Because there were no doctors we could afford in District 11.

Teasel looked satisfied, and climbed into my lap then. She was five, and small for her age. I stroked her hair.

"Edelweiss." My brother stopped playing with the grass he had in his mouth, and looked up. "The national flower of an ancient country, long destroyed... Germany."

"We learned about that in school."

"Yes, you would've by now." Granny smiled at my brother. "A plant that is very hardy and known for its perseverance. It means courage."

He gave the ghost of a smile. "What does p-per-perseverance mean, Rue?"

"Stubborn!" Larkspur giggled. 

"It means you don't give up," I said gently. 

"Larkspur...joy." she looked at my sister on my right."And Oleandor. Caution." My third sister smiled shyly.

"And at last...Rue." She looked directly at me. "A small wildflower that grows in our fields. An herb to heal, a sense of beauty, and even at times edible when necessary."

"Though rather bitter-tasting for most," a deep voice said from behind us. 

Thresh, Granny's actual biological grandson, walked up the steps then. I had seen him around before, in the fields and on Granny's porch. Though we were six years apart and he didn't really have no reason to speak to me. 

His last year in the Reaping. And my first, tomorrow. 

He went to stand behind Granny, looking stoic and powerful, even here. I caught his eye. But then someone came running up the stairs too, tripping over us kids. 

"Thresh! Come quick! It's Dahlia--"

Looking stricken, he stepped over us and quickly followed the other man to the fields again, where a handful of workers and Peacekeepers had gathered. We saw Thresh push violently through the crowd to Dahlia, his twin sister. 

Teasel and Oleandor started to cry. I held my youngest sister on my lap, and took my other sister's hand. Larkspur buried her face in the bottom of Granny's faded dress. Edelweiss looked expressionless, but his lip trembled, and I pulled him across the floor to our huddled circle.

Granny bent and picked Larkspur up. With her on her hip, she stood up again and looked out to the fields, the sunset reflecting off of her face. She was watching for her grandchildren. 

"Granny," I said very softly. "What does Thresh's name mean?"

Granny looked at me then. She looked sad, and tired. "Thresh?" she repeated. "It means to separate. To-to reap."

Crops, and then...

I knew the answer. We didn't need to hear anything else tonight. 


End file.
